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rosemary + roasted garlic bread

When I bake, my kitchen’s a bit of a hurricane. My apartment is small, six hundred square feet {with an abnormally large three hundred square foot deck}, and I like it that way because there’s less space of which to fill with unnecessary things. Though I’d rather give up my bedroom to have an enormous kitchen with oceans of the counter space. Instead, I try to make the best of what I have, make efficient use of storage, but there’s always piles of nuts and herbs and boxes of things and cookbooks on the counter.

It’s a mess, but it’s a beautiful mess. It’s my mess, always undone, always inviting. The opposite of the whitewashed Kinfolk life, where space is abundant, kitchens are basked in efulgent light, and the linens are bespoke and handwoven.

Last night, I spent the better portion of the evening making this lovely bread from the Kinfolk cookbook. When I unearthed it from the oven, I felt victorious. Roasted garlic and rosemary perfumed the room, and there’s nothing better than slathering cool butter on hot, homemade bread.

Although I had to do a bit of tinkering with the original instructions, the bread delivers — an absolute must-bake. Part of me wonders if I should publish corrections to all of the recipes in need of help in this lovely tome.

DIRECTIONSFor roasting the garlic: Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Cut the head of garlic in half and drizzle with 3 tbsp of olive oil, making sure the interior and exterior are coated. Season the cut sides with coarse sea salt. Press the garlic halves together and wrap tightly with tin foil, roasting for an hour until the cloves are juicy, golden, and soft. Set aside on a rack to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the sugar and two teaspoons of salt in a large bowl. Stir in the yeast and water, and allow the mixture to stand until it foams, approximately 10 minutes. If your yeast doesn’t foam, dump it. It’s not activated and won’t give your dough the height and softness that will make it divine. The reasons for your yeast not activating: you’re either using bad {or expired} yeast, or your water was too hot. That’s why a thermometer is key. I tend to boil my water and watch the temperature rise.

Once your yeast is activated, stir in three tablespoons of olive oil and three cups of the flour. Knead the dough in the stand mixer for six-seven minutes. The dough will look as if it won’t come together, trust me, it will. If the dough is too wet + sticky, add some of the reserve flour, a tablespoon at a time. If you’re not using a stand mixer, knead by hand (pulling with your fingers and pushing back with the heels of your hands) for ten minutes.

Add one tablespoon of the fresh rosemary, the oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and knead in the mixer for two minutes, or by hand for five minutes. Squeeze the cloves out of their skins and add them to the mixer, and gently knead until combined (30 sec-1 minute in a mixer), 1 minute by hand.

Shape the dough into a ball. Brush a large bowl with the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil, place the dough inside, and turn several times until completely coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for an hour, or until doubled in size.

After the first rise, punch the dough down and shape it into a round loaf. Using a sharp, serrated knife, make a criss-cross design on top. Place the loaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then cover with the large bowl you used originally. Allow the dough to rise for another hour, or until doubled in size.

Ten minutes before the end of your second rise, pre-heat the oven to 375F. Brush the loaf with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and remaining one tablespoon of rosemary. Bake for fifteen minutes, then spray the loaf with water and bake for another fifteen minutes. After the half hour, increase the oven temperature to 425F, spray the loaf once again and bake for another five minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool for 10 minutes. Serve with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pepper. Or, you can opt for the classic — cool butter.

Hey there! In all candor, I wouldn’t pair this with pasta, as the bread is pretty rich and filling. It might be a nice side for chicken/meat or a veggie dish, but even I, the carb lover, couldn’t handle this with linguine. :)

I have made this bread twice with delicious results but the first time the bread was somewhat better. I over minced the Rosemary on the second try which turned the bread green- not appetizing looking at all. On both batches I formed the loaves into taunt boules but I forgot to score the bread on my second batch and to my surprise the loaves (I doubled the recipe so there were two) didn’t split either.

I don’t know how the recipe is written in the Kinfolk Table but I find the directions somewhat confusing which is probably my fault. Because of my tendency toward adult ADD, I need all the ingredients in the DOUGH itself listed separately so I can lay my ingredients out- like a cooking show. After I lay them out, I even count my ingredients to make sure I haven’t forgotten one. After I make the dough I count the empty bowls and ramekins to make sure I have forgotten anything. I finally had to write the dough ingredients out on paper to make sure I didn’t make a mistake.

Another issue with the recipe is that the dough was too dry before the garlic and too wet after. The garlic added more moisture than I would have guessed. I say that to warn other bakers NOT to add any additional water when the dough looks parched. That is actually a mistake I made with the first batch but when the dough got extremely wet after the garlic, I added flour to my discretion and ended up with a better result. The second time I made the bread I trusted the recipe more than my eye, and even though I had to add a lot more flour than a 1/4 cup (like a cup) to get it to finally hold its shape, I really didn’t add enough which was my third mistake. I wish the amount of roasted garlic was given in weight instead of bulb size which can vary widely, making the amount of flour needed anyone’s guess. I never measure by volume and I convert volume to weight in most ingredients before I start baking. Still both times I made the bread it was delicious and got completely eaten. I found kept well for a few days and made great sandwich bread as well which didn’t surprise me because the olive oil acts as a natural preservative. I did add a pinch of ascorbic acid, and a teaspoon of diastatic malt powder too.

Thank you so much for the recipe which despite all my minutia was actually amazing even in the second batch. I am making it again today. Hopefully I will nail it like I did the first time. Again thank you for sharing this recipe which I hope to make one I memorize. We loved it that much. :))